Sorry....Main Event Update

I had some blog issues where I couldnt get signed on for some reason. I have been trying to get my password reset and finally got in. Anyway, unfornately this is not going to be the best blog, because my main event was short and not sweet. I had a pretty easy first table, but nothing really went well. I was able to pick my way thru the first few levels. I would win some chips and lose some chips but never make any ground. I had 2 big hands that I couldnt get action on, but I kept plodding along. I never had any big hands preflop. Anyway, a couple of the hands that really hurt......The biggest, most painful hand......I raised in the cutoff with ATh and the small blind had started to make a few moves, but im not sure if he had hands or not. He had been tight up until last 30 mins, so it was hard to tell. I raised it and he reraised me.....I called....I think we put in about 2k each preflop. The flop was T62.....he bet 2k and I called.....turn is 4......he bets 6k, I called, but really wasnt sure where I was in this hand and figured he wouldnt fire again if he didnt have it. Rver was 8 and he moved all in for about 15k and I folded.

I had 64s twice and both times the flop came 73x with 2 of my suit and I missed both times. Neither pot did I put a ton in, but its still big draws I missed. I also missed 4 other flopped flush draws, once with straight draw too. Basically, nothing went well. I feel like I missed a good opportunity because my table was so weak, but I just could never get a hand and get paid on it and I lost a few chips in a lot of spots. I eventually got down to 8k and decided to move in with TT over an opening raise and he had QQ and I didnt get lucky. If I would have called instead of moving in, the flop came 782, so Im guessing even if I just call I go broke on the hand.

Anyway, I am very disappointed with another main event failure, but I played ok....Overall, this world series I think I would give it a 6 on a scale of 1-10 on my happiness. I am very happy with the way I played and the way I accumulated chips early in a lot of events. On the other hand, poker is measured by money won and I didnt win enough to even cover entries (well it was prob real close). Another year down and I feel like next year may just be the year and when I break out, I think Ill break out HUGE. Thanks for following and Ill update future events on the blog.

DB

The Big One

Back in Vegas for the 10k Main Event. I will be playing Monday in the Red Section at table 117. I look forward to my day 1. Ill blog tomorrow night with hopefully good results. Day 1 is about survival. Ill be trying to build chips, but the key is to hang around. I cant win tomorrow or even cash, so hopefully I can stay in control and let the chips come my way. I have been playing well and I have high expectations. Talk to everyone after day 1.

Home

The last few events went like most of the other ones. In the last 3 events I played for 10 poker hours, 1 hour, and 8 poker hours before being eliminated. The 2 that I played a long time I go to the final 20% pct which of coarse means a lot of time and no money......I feel great about my play this summer though and look forward o the main event. I am now in Houston to recharge and rest. I will be heading back to Vegas on Sunday and I play in the Main Event on Monday.....GL Me......this is the big one, time to run gooooooood!

Close Again....

In the 1500 limit shootout, I got head up. We played 3 handed for about 2 hours and head up for over 2 hours. I played my ass off. I battled back from each beat. I eventually got the chip lead, but the fortunes on a couple huge hands didnt go my way and I lost the chip lead. We then get about 18k of the 40k in play in the middle on the k95 flop, I have j9 he has a4, meaning he wins with only an A and like has happened so many times, he hit the A. I again am really proud how I battled and battled. In the end I couldnt overcome and I took 2nd which is worth as much as last, but Im glad Im still playing my best.

Saturday is another sold out lottery ticket 1500 event. GL to me, Im sure Ill play all day agian, it seems to be common place this year. Good Luck to Ray and FBT who both won their table, hopefully you will win tomorrows table too.

Really???? Again?????

Im not sure where this blog is headed because I am very very happy and proud of my work in the 2500 mixed hold em event. I am also very very unhappy with the end of this tournament for me. The day started out with me pretty much going nowhere, but I was content to not force things today and let the chips come as they may. The big downswing came in the limit section. I had about 80-100k, not sure how much exactly. Anyway an aggressive Danish guy raised my blind from the cutoff with and we were playing 3k 6k. I called with k9, flop k57, I chk raised he 3 bet and I knew he was full of shit trying to get to showdown cheap so I 4 bet him. Turn was A and I bet he called river T, I chk called knowing I would prob see AJ, he showed me A8....so gross these people keep getting rewarded vs me. The very next hand is folded to the button and he raised, I act like I am completely tilted and angerly 3 bet out of the small blind with QQ. I love to act mad to get action with big hands. I bet in the dark and he called in the dark....flop T87, turn 9, I chk call river 8, I chk call he has 66 and I go from around a 100 to 20k.

I could have easily just found spots to get in my remaining chips, but I didnt. I battled and battled. I could have reraised the Dutch guy all in with KQh and maybe I should have, but I knew I could find a better spot. I end up doubling up vs him with AT vs T9. Anyway I battle for a while and eventually I find myself still in with between 100-150k with 2 tables left. I choose my spots wisely and made one really good sick read. In limit we are playing 8k 16k, I raise KTs and Matt Matros calls out of the blind. He is a really good player and a really good limit player. He chk raises the J94 flop, I call, the turn is a 2 and he bets......I pause for second and wonder if he has what he is representing. It looks like I am setting him up to raise him on the turn and he bets anyway....he may have a J Im not sure, but I can catch a Q for a straight and prob a K and maybe a T.....river is a 2 and he bets again. Something makes me pause before folding and I look at Matt and replay the hand in my head. I then realize that Matt doesnt have anything. I really hope he doesnt have KQ cause I cant beat that hand. Anyway, I finally realize he has KQ, QT, or T8....Obv he could have a J, but I just dont sense it. One of my strengths (and weaknesses) is I trust my senses and my gut......I make a call that will leave me really short if Im wrong and call 16k on the river with K high and its good, he has QT. Great read by me!

So I play a while longer and I move in a couple times in the NL round, then I look down and see AA and instead of moving in I make it 22k, I have 110k total. I know that Matt Woodward will fall for this. He will think Im cheaply trying to pick up the blinds. We played together alot in the last 2 days and I was waiting to set him up and I knew this was it. When I raised it I said to myself, please give Matt something.....sure enough he didnt disappoint. He reraised it to 60k, I moved in and he called with A5c. He has 12% to win and with the blinds and antes there is about 250k in the middle. Flop 864, turn 7 and I lose. Its so bad. How many times can I get deep in so many events and so many tournaments in my career only to get @#$%d in the end. So many crushing defeats in the late stages of big events with way the best of it. Im pretty crushed and disappointed with this event, but Ill be fine and recover.....I always do....in fact Im fine now, I played great and did everything within my control to make a super deep run. So final tally 14th again for 14k.

Here is a funny tidbit......I had this guy I played with a lot today who was so bad but he kept getting chips. This one hand....Gavin Griffen raised to 7700 and Karlo called and the Small Blind made it 30k, the Big Blind is this horrible player and he goes all in. Gavin and Karlo both fold and the Small Blind who just made it 30k, has about 25k left.....for most this is an instant call but this guy decided to fold. The horrible player looked at him and in all seriousness asked the guy if he folded pocket Aces! We all died laughing, he was serious....This is what you get at the WSOP.

Tomorrow at 5 I start the 1500 Limit Shootout. I final tabled this event 2 years ago and finished 7th. This is a different type of event. We play 10 people at a table and we play til one winner then all the winners come back the next day and repeat. I pretty much plan on playing this event and if out Ill play Sat and Sun and Monday each chance I have. So far I have cashed in 4 events for about 38k.....all my goals except money are being reached. I have had 3 to 4 really good runs, I hope I have at least one more left in me.

I May Be Pretty Good at This Poker Thing

Another long day 1 ends with me having more chips than average. I played day 1 of the 2500 mix holdem event and end with 82k. This is ok, but I had 73k at dinner and struggled the whole last 4 hours until I won a big pot at the end. Im really excited how I have been building chips in these events, but I have definately had a problem on day 2s. Im hoping to change that tomorrow. My plan is get the chips tomorrow and not let em go. Im full of confidence, so maybe Ill catch the deck ONE TIME.......

Anyway, sorry all these entries are short, but I have been real tired after finishing up a day of play. We start at 2pm tomorrow.

Thanks
David

Back at it

I was very disappointed by the 14th finish in the 2k limit and there wasnt a lot of good tournaments to play the last couple days, so I have been relaxing and playing live. My next event is Wed at noon. Its 2500 half limit holdem half no limit holdem. This is a really good event for me, I just have to be careful and try to not get too involved in the no limit where I can get unlucky and go bust in one hand.

DB

1st or Bust....

On to another Day 2, this time in the 2k limit. This is the event I finished 3rd in last year and Im here to win it. I have a lot of interesting stories from this day, but Im so tired, Im just gonna post a copy of the lead update from World Series of Poker.com. Ill do a complete write up of this tourney later.

Day 1 Concludes; Back at 2pm
Well, that's it. The chips are being bagged and tagged, and it looks as though 107 runners have made it through to Day 2 -- an impressive whittling down of our 446-strong starters. David Baker seems to have snuck into the chip lead in the last few hands with 72,100, but there are a number of players trailing only slightly behind, so it's really anyone's game come tomorrow. Also still in, albeit on more modest stacks, are big names Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Brock Parker and Maria Ho. We'll be back here at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, when we'll be doing our damnedest to play down to a final table

Bitter End

It was not to be for me in the 10k limit. I built my chips up early to about 90k, but everything went down hill from there. I called down in 2 spots, I knew I was no good, I didnt bluff in a spot I knew I should have and I took a couple pretty bad beats. Pretty much anything that could go wrong for the next couple hours did. It was just not meant to be. Wed is a dead day, I wont be in any event, but I will prob go cheer on several of my friends that are in the final 12 at the 10k limit. I play with about 5 or 6 of the final 12 on a regular basis and Im pretty good friends with most of them. One of my best friends in poker Greg "FBT" Mueller is one of the participants. Good Luck Greg. Congrats to JC Tran, an excellent player and also a friend, that won his 2nd bracelet last night.

As for my next event it will probably be Friday 2k limit. This is the event I finished 3rd in last year so I have some unfinished business.

Yet Another Day 2

Well I dont have the big score yet this year, but I sure am getting chips and playing deep in these events. I have 49,100 in the 10k limit. We started with 30k. This was a very small field as less than 200 people played. Suprisingly, the field wasnt as good as you would think. There were plenty of bad players. I had a pretty good table, especially at the end of the day, but I was really card dead. I couldnt play many hands, my table was really aggressive. I somehow managed to end with almost 50k, so I am happy. We are down to a little over 100 people and tomorrow hopefully will be a long day. Im pretty tired, so tonights entry is short. Good Night

Rest....

Im out of the 1500 from Saturday. I didnt play my best I was kinda bored. I still got chips but after 8 hours found a way to go busto. Im not that bummed about it. Im gonna rest Sunday in preparation for the 10k Limit Hold Em Championship on Monday at 5pm.

Gleaming Positives From a Negative

I want to give a rundown of my day. I got up and played both the 1500 Limit and the 2nd day of the NL. Some people thought it was dumb to play both, I didnt. I got up to 7k in the 1st 2 hours of the limit then I went to the NL and lost half my stack. If things didnt turn around I would have been so glad I was in the limit, as the field was super soft. Im not gonna go into the limit event because I want to talk about the no limit a lot. Lets just say on dinner of the NL I went to the limit and played really fast and gambled hoping to amass a lot of chips since I had a ton in the NL and I assumed I would be there a while. I went broke in the limit but by this time I didnt care at all.

On to my day of the NL, I rediscovered some controlled aggression. I was so happy with my play over all. I did some things I hadnt done in a while. I played really tight which I usually do, but had my chips to about 50k. A young kid opened the pot for 5k and I sensed he was weak. Also, I had enough chips to really hurt him, so I reraised him 13k more from the blind with A8o. I had 29k behind leaving myself enough to fold if I was wrong and he woke up with a hand....I was right and he folded. I had raised another internet players blind several times and he folded, but I could tell he was tired of it. I wasnt raising his blind again unless I was prepared to call an all in shove which I thought was coming.....I get AK and raise he shoves like I thought with AJ, we have 120k in the middle and flop comes AJ3...turn 5....river K! He gets super lucky on the flop and I get super lucky on the river. I leave this table with 160k, after I reraise another guy with KQ and he folds. I was very successfull with 3 betting marginal hands and picking up dead money.

I move tables and this table seems to be pretty aggressive. The only player I recognize is this kid Binh, who came in 2nd to Andrew at the LAPC, he has about 100k. I fold for the 1st 15-20 hands at this table, then I finally go after the blinds and antes which are high and raise to 5800 with 65, Binh raises me 10k more leaving himself about 70k. I normally auto fold here, but my instincts were he didnt have a super strong hand and I hadnt played a hand, so I raise him 25k more with only 65. He folds and I pick up big pot. Then we go to dinner. Come back and I raise the cutoff with 34h, Binh calls from the blind. Flop A27 2clubs. He leads for 10k, I would just call if I had an A so I call and plan to win the hand later. Turn is a Q, he chks and I figure if I had an A I would chk behind so I do. River is 6c, he chks, I bet 25k, he folds I win another one with 4 high!

Little while later I raise 2 black 8s, blind calls. Flop is T93 all spades, chk, chk....turn 3....he bets 10k, I call. River is 8 he bets 10k, I raise 30k he calls I win, now I have 250k......Here starts the fun.....My image at this point I believe is tight and always has it. I raise the hijack with A7d to 7500, button calls. Flop 833, I bet 13k, hoping he has AQ or AJ and will fold, he calls and I can tell he doesnt like it....I think he has 55 or 66 or even 99 or TT. Turn is 4, I bet 24k to get him to fold most of his hands. He calls....Im done with it I think.....River is K, now I take one last shot for 38k, he calls leaving himself about 25k. He has red AQ!!!! He called off 83k with A high 75k of it with no draw. This is a horrible play, but he looks like a genius. Im really happy I had the guts to make this bluff. 99 pct of the time I win this pot in this spot, so Im proud that I had the guts to fire the river, if I chk and he chks and shows me AQ Im gonna be so mad at myself cause I would think no way he would call and I should have bet.

So I still have 170k and am fine. Folded to me on the button and the same guy is in the Big Blind. I raise the J7h I just cant fold here. Same guy makes it 23k (I opened 7500). I figure if I hit the flop I can get a lot of value here, so I call. Flop comes TT9 2 hearts. He bets 50k, I raise him an additional 90k, he calls and has AKh. Bad hand for me to be up against, but i win if I catch a J8 or 7. After preflop call all the money is getting in so just unlucky and I miss.

I go from great shape to out in 5 mins, but I am so happy. My reads are so dead on and Im having the guts to go through with it. I got so many chips by outplaying people it was fun. I used to be aggressive and Im glad to get a little of it back in my game. Saturday another 1500 NL Lottery Event. Lets Fire it up.

Im Sick....and I Love It

Im gonna try to make this short, I am exhausted! Gonna need a day off or two soon. Here is the long and short of my day. We start HORSE at 1 pm, Im 12th in chips. I lose 2 pots and am basically out. I dont do anything wrong in either one and neither do my opponents, I just never hit a card and my opponents did. I fought back from 6k when a friend of mine seated at the table made a bet with another player.....the other guy had to lay him 2k for 200 that I would build my 6k back into at least 100k.....I gave it a good run, I got up over 50k, but I couldnt do anything else, I was out a few hands later in a disappointing 17th place. I played as well as I could in games Im not great at and I think it was a real good showing, I pick up between 8-9k, not sure, I never looked nor have I cashed out yet.

I was going to cash out but I noticed it was 1:57 and you have until 2 to register for the noon event which was a lottery 2500 person 1500 NL event. So since I was prepared to play poker all day, I said what the hell and registered. We start with 4500 and I dominated early. I played so good and was killing them. At dinner I had about 34k and my table was pretty easy. After dinner my table turned into the table from hell. I could never enter a pot without getting reraised. This kid raised to 1600 I reraised to 6500 with AK and he moved all in. This is a really tough spot.....I had 34k behind. If he has AK himself he makes this play and prob QQ maybe JJ. I really felt like he had either QQ or KK. With the table still not as hard as it later got, I decided I could get chips easier than this spot so I folded. At the end of the night he said he had QQ and with all the money in there, I would have called had I known he had QQ. Whatever.....I end the night with 41,400 which is avg and there are 270 left, we just made the money. We start back up at 2.

Now playing a no limit event after 3 days and a disappointing 17th place finish in horse is a little sick, but tomorrows plan is really sick. At noon they have a 1500 Limit Holdem event. This is my best event. I dont feel like anyone in the world has an better edge in this tourney than me. I registered for this tourney. I am gonna play it from noon til 2 then go play the no limit and let my chips sit there. I will lose a few chips while I am gone but hopefully I will build up early and on breaks from the NL event. Here is my logic. 1 of 2 things are gonna happen in the NL event. Either I stay in and do great and move up the money ladder and I sacrifice the limit event and 1500 and that would be great or I lose my chips which can easily happen in one cooler or bad beat and Im in my best event. I figure its worth it and Im red hot and my confidence is high, so lets ride it out......

Ok, going to bed hoping for a deep run in one of the events (hopefully the NL).

Thanks
DB

21 Left in HORSE

I have so much to write about today, but its late and Im exhausted and have to get up early. Anyway, a quick recap of the day, and I will detail the sickest hand I have ever been involved in. I start at the sickest table for a HORSE event. I have Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harmon, David Singer, Keith Sexton, Zac Fellows (online star), and couple other decent players. Doyle, Jennifer and Keith get eliminated and we get prob better players in to replace them in Matt Glantz, Chau Gaing, and Greg Macio.....anyway Zac is on my immediate left and he is torturing me. He beats me and the rest of the table in every pot. My chips are fairly consistant, I had some swings but nothing huge. I feel I played pretty well. I definately made a few mistakes in the games Im not as good at, but I think I made up for it with good limit tourney strategy. I was aggressive at the right times and picked up a lot of dead money which kinda covered up any small mistakes I made.

I have a lot I could talk about, but I want to detail this hand and go to sleep. First, the floor announces to stop dealing and we are redrawing for tables, but our dealer already started shuffling so we had to play it. The game we are playing is called Stud 8. This game is a split pot game. Half the pot goes to the player making the best hi hand and half the pot goes to the player making the best low hand, but the player winning the low must have 5 cards below an 8 in their hand. It sounds complex, but its not. Anyway in this game you really want low cards that can make a straight or flush so you can win both. Ok so Dan Shak is getting low he raises to 6k, I have a 3 up and an A and 4 in the hole. This is a very good hand I reraise it to 12k, Zac then makes it 18k with a K up and Dan makes it 24k with his Ten up and I call and Zac makes it 30k and Dan is all in and I call. So we all have 30k in the pot each and Zac has a K up (looks like he has KK in the hole to me) I have A43, and Dan has a T up. I catch a 5 and Zac a J Dan is all in he gets a 2. Zac bets I call. My hand now has A435 and I need a 2 to prob win it all or a 678 in one of the next 3 cards to get half. My last 3 cards are 99J. So I miss everything and fold (Zac bets every street). Zac turns up the QT in the hole! He went 5 bets with KQT in Stud 8.....Most people wouldnt put in 1 bet. That hand is horrible.......Anyway, here is the catch.....He thought we were playing Stud Hi Only! So, its like a million to 1 for him to not know what game we are playing.....him to go bonkers with KQT in any stud game.....for him to make a straight.....for me to miss 3 consecutive shots at half the pot......This pot ends up costing me 60k and the pot size was about 170k! This pot was a joke and Im down to 60k after it.

Well at my new table I win a couple of small pots and end the day at 132k. There are 21 left and we resume at 1pm tomorrow. We will play down to a winner and hopefully it will be yours truly.....anyway, I need a little sleep, Im real excited about this opportunity, hope I catch the deck tomorrow!

Thanks
DB

Another Day 2

Well my day started off pretty crappy as I went to play in the 1500 PL Holdem event. I played about 20 minutes and outlasted 2 of my 3 housemates, as Ray and Jimmy made earlier exits than me. I came home recharged, watched Fight Club on the theatre and then went back to my own Fight Club the Rio for the 3k HORSE event. For those who dont know what HORSE is it is a 5 game mix. We play 8 hands of each game and then start at the begining. The games are Limit Holdem, Omaha 8 or better (high low split), Razz (worst 7 cards win, its a 7 card stud game), Seven Card Stud high only, and Eight or better (7 card stud hi low split). Here is the benefit of me playing HORSE, I am competant in all 5 games, so Im not at a huge disadvantage. Here is the downside, my best games by far are holdem and omaha and they play the quickest and holdem probably plays the smallest. Im not a fan of the 7 card stud games, but in this mix its ok.

So I sit down at my table and look around and no doubt I have one of the softest tables in the room. I quickly built my chips from 9k start to 16k which is great since these are all limit games they start out small at the begining. These players didnt realize I was not messing around and they continued to pay me off. I really was concentrating especially in the non holdem games trying to not make mistakes and in holdem I was super aggressive because non of them were holdem players and they let me. So the day goes on and I dont get a ton of hands, butI manage to slowly build my stack throughout the day. I go up every break and I end the night with 31000. Avg chips at this point is about 19k. The problem is the blinds and the limits go up so big so fast that I can only lose a few hands before I will be in critical shape or out.

My plan is to come in and do the same thing I did today. Play pretty tight in the stud games and pick my spots well. I started making moves in the stud games at the end of the day, but that was after i had my opponents figured out. The key for me is to establish an image then expoit it. Im really looking forward to day 2, Im hoping for 1st cash then final table and ultimately the bracelet.

Thanks for reading and GL me!

Quick Hits

Im exhausted but wanted to write quick notes....I played little live on sunday at the bellagio, lost a little nothing much....monday I played 2 head up matches vs crazy mike, he crushed me the 1st match, it was really quite disgusting. Im pretty sure Phil Ivey would have lost with my cards and his luck. I played him again and I wore him down and beat him. He is a pretty tough player, but I would play him again if there was nothing better going on.

I will be playing the noon 1500 Pot Limit Hold em event on Tuesday. If I am out before 7pm I will be playing in the 5pm 3000 HORSE tourney (you can register 2 hrs late). Horse is a 5 game combination, where you play hold em then omaha then razz and then 2 stud games. If I dont make either day 2 then wed I will play the NL shootout.

It seems like the series has been going and I havent done much, but the schedule has been screwy where all the events I want to play happen close together then dead days. Anyway, starting this event Im only 0 for 4 for 6500 loss, which is really nothing. I have gotten semi deep in every event so Im sure good things ahead.

Frustrated

I came back for day 2 of the 2500 6 max limit holdem event. I built up to 40k and was on my way then I lost these hands back to back. Playing 1k 2k, I raise KT and big blind calls flop comes AK7, he chks, I chk.....turn T, he bets I raise, he calls....river is 3 he chks, I bet he calls and has A3. Obviously a horrible play to call my raise with that hand, he is never good there and very rarely even live. Anyway that was a 17k pot. Then little while later this horrible player raises I call the blind with K7c, flop A86r, I chk raise him, as he is prone to have any 2 cards. He calls.....turn J he calls my bet. river is an A and I bet for some reason maybe just hoping he will fold a small pr or KQ or KT if he is terrible enough to have these hands. He calls and has QJo. His flop call is so absolutely horrible and then once he makes the ridiculous call he has to hit the J. Anyway, things continue to go down and I get all the way down to 3800.

I then build back from 3800 to almost 40k then I run into a couple of better hands and these 2 bad players at my table continue to make hands vs me or play there hands in such a way to cost me the max. It was a pretty frustrating end when I busted with A4 of spades on a 34J9 2 spades board. He has qq and I need an A or a 4 or a spade to win and I miss and Im out. I finishd about 55th give or take a few, they pay 36. The only good part is a had a significant last longer bet with a friend of mine and when I had 3800 he had 50k and I won, so I end up making a little money I was a big underdog to get.

I will definately not be playing Sunday and Monday I am leaning towards skipping but not sure yet. Good Luck to Ray Henson who still has a nice stack in this tournament.

Movin on to Day 2

First off what an amazing start to the WSOP for my friends. I dont even have that many, thats the amazing thing. Anyway, one of my best friends and housemate Cornel Andrew Cimpan finished 4th in the PLH/PLO event that concluded on Friday. Tomorrow, another one of my really good friends Mike Carlson goes for a win in the 2000 NL event that started on Thursday. Mike goes in as one of the top couple in chips and there are 27 left. Mike is a super guy and one of my favorite people I have had the pleasure of meeting out here on tour. Best of Luck Mike, I will be sweating you tomorrow.

On to my day. I am still alive in the 2500 6 max limit event. This is a super fun event. The action is fast and furious and its the closest thing to what I normally play. This is the first tournament of this kind in the history of the WSOP and judging by the comments they may add more. Everyone loved it. My day got off to a great start as I was dominating the table the first hour. Then for 3 hours I kept losing when I was a favorite to win. This is very very irratating. I got all the way down to 3k then doubled up and then won 3 big pots in a 5 minute time frame and went from 3k to 22k. I was rolling they break the table and I move twice and get up to 40k and Im right where I need to be. I then proceed to lose most pots I put alot of money in with and most of the big ones on the river. Barry Schulman, president of cardplayer, beat me in 2 big pots once on the turn and once on the river. It was a little payback I guess for a hand I beat him out of. Anyway, I went from 40k all the way down to 17,600.

I will start day 2 at 2:00 with my 17,600. Its below average, but I know how fast these chips grow. I feel great about everything and cant wait to get back in tomorrow and kick some ass. My best friend, Ray Henson, has about 47k in this same event so good luck to him, hopefully we will meet far down the line at the final table.

Talk to everyone tomorrow.

Friends Everywhere

Well even though I havent gotten off to a huge start, my friends sure have. Its real early and I have only played 3 events so I am not at all discouraged. My housemate and one of my best friends Cornel Andrew Cimpan is in the final 18 of the PLH/PLO tourney that concludes on Friday. He is a little below avg chips, but at the LAPC he was dead last with 20 left and won that for 1.7 million, so a short stack doesnt deter him. I had another friend John Monette come in 2nd to Phil Ivey in the 2 7 no limit event that concluded yesterday and yet another Brian Mcinnis came in 6th in the 1500 NL that ended on Thurs night.

Friday is an event I feel like I have a great shot at. Six handed limit event 14 is a big oppty being that short handed limit poker is my specialty. Its still a tournament and you need some luck and cards, but I like my chances. This event starts at 5 pacific so the updates will be later than they have been.

Hilly Road to Nowhere

On Tuesday i played the 1500 NL event. I had the most active bumpy road I can ever remember in the first few levels. Im not going to get into any hands today, but it was a rollercoaster. I played another 6 hours and finally got all in with 55 vs AK and I survived the first 4 cards, but the river card doomed me when the Ace on the river came.

Here is a quick story you would have recevied had you had me as a follower on twitter (audavidb), but Ill share it with all, as it was pretty funny. We are 3 hours into the tourney and the 5 seat has yet to show up. He is being blinded off and the dealer was taking his big chips and putting them in the pot and giving the dead stack all the small change. Well first time ok, he needed some change, but we werent in antes so he didnt need much. Well he did this 3 times and now this guy has like 3000 in 100s and 25s. Well the last time he did it, he made change out of my pot and I told the guy to keep his hands out of my pot. The dealer argues and we went back and forth. Finally this old guy next to stands up and gets in the dealers face and tells him Im right and he needs to shut up. Now the dealer calls the superviser over and tells the superviser that the old man told him to shut up. The superviser looks the dealer in the eyes and says listen to the man! It was great. One of my favorite moments I can remember at a table.

Well after going pretty deep into day 1 all 3 tournies and with the schedule set up to have events I dont like on Wed, I am taking off Wed. I may take off Thursday as I really want to play in the limit 6 handed event on Fri and if I do well thurs I may have to skip it. Im not positive yet, but thats how Im leaning so probably no blog entry for a day or so.

Also, final table today of the 1k Event 4. I have 2 friends at the final table in Danny Fuhs and Steve Sung. Both of these guys are super nice guys and great players. I wish them the best of luck. In the 10k Seven card stud tourney, one of my best friends Greg "FBT" Mueller is down to the final 11, so go get em Greg. Nice to see such good guys and good friends excelling early in the series.

So far for my series, Im 4k in with no cashes, played 19 poker hours, which feels like a lot more as tourney hours are much longer than real hours.

Follow my tournament progress on Twitter, sign on audavidb.

Thanks
DB

Good Luck Danny!

I woke up this morning and turned on the computer. Not sure why, but I said to myself lets see if Danny Fuhs is chip leader of the 1k from this weekend. I had no reason to think that as I hadnt seen an update in a day. So I pull it up and sure enough Danny leads the pack with 50 left. Danny is a great guy and we went to dinner during our 1st day of this event and I saw a little something different in him this year. His strong start is not suprising me and just wanted to say if you check the updates of that event and see a bunch of names you dont know, feel free to root on my friend Danny Fuhs to victory.

Good Luck Danny.

Sometimes I Just Suck....

Well today was 1500 Pot Limit Omaha. A fun game I am ok at, but its not my best. Anyway I built up my chips nicely and then from nowhere I just started playing bad....I dont know why, but I got mixed up in a few hands I didnt need to get involved in and I paid the price each time. I lost one key pot that may have had something to do with it, but I dont think so. I end up kind of committing myself with a hand I didnt think was good, but the pot was big so I called and I end up having the best hand he had a straight draw. So we have over 10k in the pot and he hits his straight and beats me. If I win this pot I prob have about 18k. I proceed to play a few hands I prob shouldnt have and didnt lose a lot, but I kept bleeding chips. I then tried a dumb bluff that didnt work.

I then move tables and end up at a tough table. I play a few more hands I shouldnt and lose a few chips then I call the flop with top pr and then the turn I pick up the nut flush draw and I miss and Im real short. I am eliminated a short time later. Anyway, I am disappointed but Im not one of those players that just blames everyone else. If I dont play my best I say so.

So I have played 2 tournaments for total of 2500, I have played a total of 13 hours (8 yest 5 today) for total of 0 dollars. Its really no big deal though its super early and I havent played any event I really care about yet. Tomorrow is a 1500 No Limit event. I call these lottery ticket events and I have my ticket. Hopefully I can make it through the day with some chips as I have no plans to play any of Wednesdays events.

Talk to you soon
DB

A Different Breed

Today I played in the 1k NL event of the WSOP. I forgot how different the world series events are in comparison to the WPT events. Throughout the year I dont play a lot of tournaments but when I do they are World Poker Tour Events. I either play in a couple of the bigger preliminary events or the 10k main events. The players that play in the WPT events are almost all some sort of poker players, that may not be all be great, but definately understand a lot more of the game. So I sit down in this first event and I am surronded by 9 other people all of which are so excited to be playing in the WSOP they just cant stand it. They are all talking with each other and they are not going bust! These people played so tight and were so afraid to go broke it was comical. The hands I saw being folded and thought over was amazing. Here are some funny hands and samples.

The blinds are 25 25 and a guy limps in for 25 and its folded and to the blinds. I am the Big Blind with 25 out there and the small blind and I check. So 3 of us go to the flop there is 75 in the pot. The flop comes j87 and we all check. The turn is an Ace. The small blind chks I bet 75 and the limper shows me an Ace and folds! What? Obv I have Q7 here and am amazed, it was a nothing pot, but it just shows the tightness of these guys.

So I am playing a lot of pots cause they all stink and I can steal from them. So I raise the button with 34 and the big blind calls (I make it 125 blinds are 25 50). Flop 886, he chks I bet 200 he calls, now Im done I know he has an 8 most likely. The turn is a Ts putting 2 Spades, he chks, I chk, the river is Js. Now this makes the final board 886TJ with 3 spades he puts out 325 as a bet, I know he has an 8 and will fold if I raise cause it looks like I make a flush. So I raise 700 more he thinks for while gives me a speech and finally calls with 66, making him a full house! How could this hand ever not be good?

In the 150 300 25 ante level a guy opens for 1200 and I have QQ, I decide lets get the chips in so I raise him all in. He has 5k behind. He thinks and thinks and says I wish you wouldnt have done that. Im praying please call and finally he grants my wish and calls me with KK! Thanks for the slow roll buddy! Maybe he is just an idiot and didnt slow roll me. Either way I lose. It always seems to work that way, just like in the 25k at Bellagio I did well in last month. I do great until I get some big hand and I run into the KK like every time. Oh well.

Anyway, I build up my chips from 2k to 11k and then go down to 3-4k several times and each time make a comeback to around 11k, then this pot comes up. A guy who had been raising a lot of junk hands opens for 1200 with the blinds 200 400 with a 50 ante, I am in the Big Blind with TT. He has 6k behind him I have 9k, I think for a bit and decide to try to get him to overplay a hand so i can stack him and I just call instead of shipping all in. The flop comes A97, I check and he instantly goes all in for 6k more. This is the dumbest move I can think of and it makes no sense. There is no logical reason to go in with and Ace here. He should bet like 2200 or something. I cant imagine he would insta ship an Ace here. It was like he knew he was shipping any flop. He looked nervous and I really felt he had like 89 or 67 or even kj. I finally go with my read and call. A good european player next to me instantly says nice call you have jj dont you? I say ya basically tt. He says good call no way he has an Ace. Well we were both wrong, he had A4. Pretty terrible play by him, but his horrible play got me to call off horrible. Anyway I build back to 5k and then get it in with AQ vs 77 and I dont win this coin flip and I am eliminated.

I played almost 8 hours today, I played really well for the most part. I had a really good feel for my game and my opponents and feel great about things moving forward. I am playing in the Monday noon event which is 1500 Pot limit Omaha. Its kind of a gambling game so the chips will be flying and most people suck at it, so there will be a lot of land mines. If I fail to make day 2 of the PLO then I will play in Tuesdays lottery event, a 1500 No Limit.

Im sending out updates of chip counts on twitter, my name is audavidb. If you dont have a twitter account they are easy to set up. I have been told by others you may want to make your account private so you dont get any unwanted followers, but you can always block someone if you get a follower you dont want. Also, if want to send out updates via twitter, I will get your updates via text. You can set your twitter up to get texts of updates or just be able to check them online, its up to you.

Thanks for reading.

World Series of Poker Preview

Back again for year 4 of a full schedule at the World Series of Poker in sunny Las Vegas. This year I will be twittering. You can go to twitter.com and get an account if you dont have one, it is super easy to sign up. My name is audavidb. Just find me and hit follow. I will be sending out chip counts, table draws, and other random facts during the events via twitter.

Nightly (most nights I play) I will post an entry here with more detail with hand descriptions and futue plans for tournaments. I am going to try to gear this blog towards a wide array of people as I have many poker player friends that will want real strategy and names. There will also be many friends/family that dont know the difference between a flush and a river card, so Ill try to keep some things real simple.

This year I am renting a killer house with some of my best poker friends, Ray Henson, Cornel Andrew Cimpan, and Jimmy Gorham.

As for my plans and goals for this years WSOP here goes. I plan to play in about 14-20 events, with an estimated cost of 60k worth of events give or take 5k. Its very hard to plan exactly as everyday has 2 events a day and every event lasts 3 days. If I do real well in an event it may cost me a chance to enter another event and conversely if I get eliminated early, I may take a shot at an unplanned event.

My goals for 2009 Series.....
4-5 cashes
200k minimum worth of cashes
2 final tables
1 top 3 hopefully 1st and my 1st WSOP bracelet

You can also follow the entire WSOP at worldseriesofpoker.com. There is another David Baker on the tour so some of the updates on there will be me and some will be him, so its kind of difficult to follow on there. The other David Baker is really deep in the 40k No Limit event currently going on. Just wanted to mention it in case you see the name or he wins. This one isnt me, but hopefully next big run will be this David Baker.

The first event on my schedule is the 1k event #4. It has 2 1st days Sat and Sun, I will be playing Sunday starting noon pacific. There are around 6000 people in this event which should provide a huge overlay (alot of people entering that have no shot to win). This tournament is kind of like a lottery ticket. We will start with very few chips and action will be fast and furious. This is an event you take chances and try to get some chips as there will be millions of land mines on every corner.

Thanks for following

Entering the 20th Century

I now have a blog and a twitter account.....twitter account is audavidb and obv you have found the blog.